Standing at the podium in a Roanoke courtroom, Terry Grimes was in the midst of arguing a fine point of the law when he was startled by the dog sniffing at his pants leg.
Your Honor, Grimes told Judge James Turk, there’s a dog in the courtroom.
Yes, the judge said in a matter-of-fact tone. Please continue.
Grimes resumed his argument, only to learn later that the portly little dog had a name, Baby Girl; an owner, Judge Turk; and an honor bestowed on precious few pooches: free roam of a federal courtroom.
It all started a few years ago, when Turk began to bring his mixed-breed dachshund to work with him on Tuesdays, when his wife does volunteer work at the hospital in Radford.
Baby Girl does not appreciate being left home alone, the judge explained. Nor does she care for being cooped up in the judge’s chambers when Turk presides over cases.
“If I go in the courtroom and leave her out, she hollers,” Turk said.
And that is why on most every Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Roanoke, Baby Girl sits in on the proceedings. Or lies, if the mood strikes her.
Although she’s almost 3 years old, Baby Girl shows no signs of outgrowing her name. She usually gets her way, whether it’s going to court once a week or begging for handouts in the seventh-floor cafeteria of the Poff federal building.
In the courtroom, her favorite spot is behind the bench at her master’s feet, where she lies quietly. But before settling down, Baby Girl might check out the attorneys and even the defendant, making sure they all pass the smell test.
“She’ll go around and smell of everybody,” Turk said. “She’s the smellingest dog I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Grimes, who reconstructed from memory his first encounter with Baby Girl, said the dog wandered off after a couple of sniffs, leaving him to continue oral arguments for a motion he no longer remembers.
“It was a complete surprise, but I can’t say it was a distraction,” the Roanoke attorney said.
“I think things might go better if other judges would bring their dogs to court. Particularly with jury trials. I think it might have a calming effect on the jurors.”
There’s not exactly a “No Dogs Allowed” rule for the courtroom, said Ron Donelson of the U.S. Marshal’s Service, which is in charge of courtroom security.
At least, there’s no rule when it comes to His Honor and His Dog.
“I guess the easiest way to answer that is that it’s Judge Turk’s courtroom, and he pretty much makes the rules as to what goes on or what doesn’t go on in his courtroom,” Donelson said.
So what if someone else wanted to bring their dog to court? The occasional service dog gets a free pass, of course. Other than that, the issue just doesn’t come up.
“Not from a security standpoint,” Donelson said. “Unless there was a dog that was being disruptive in the courtroom.”
That’s not a concern with Baby Girl. “She wouldn’t bite a flea,” Turk said. “She’s just as friendly as can be.”
About the only person that Baby Girl doesn’t get along with all that well is the veterinarian. That’s understandable, seeing as it was the vet who told the Turks a while back their dog is 2 to 3 pounds overweight.
That Turk loves animals can be evident in court even on the dogless days.
He once expressed great concern that if he revoked the bond for a country drug dealer, there wouldn’t be anybody to feed the man’s cows that evening. And it’s rare for a dog to be mentioned in testimony without the judge interrupting to ask its name, said Art Strickland, a Roanoke attorney who once worked as Turk’s law clerk.
As for the judge’s taste in dogs, “he is not one who goes out and spends a lot of money on some pure-breed, hoity-toity dog,” Strickland said. “These are just salt-of-the-earth dogs. They’re mutts, but they’re great mutts.”
It used to be that Turk and his wife, Barbara, had five dogs running around their Radford house, one for each child. All those dogs are dead now, the children grown up to become a lawyer, a judge, an administrator, a teacher and a businessman.
A Christmas gift from one of their daughters, Baby Girl is the Turks’ only dog now — and seemingly all the more special because of that.
On Tuesdays, “she rides the elevator and it’s just like a person. She knows when to get off on the second floor,” Turk said. “I don’t think she knows that she’s a dog.”
After hearing the final case of the day Tuesday afternoon, Turk followed his usual custom of stepping down from the bench and walking out to greet the courtroom players: the drug dealer he had just sentenced to 15 years, his attorney and the prosecutor. “Good to see you,” he told each one.
And Baby Girl followed her usual custom of tagging along just behind him, wagging her tail as Turk shook hands.
Then the black-robed man and his black-and-tan canine companion turned and walked through the door that leads back to chambers.
“Baby Girl,” the judge said, “now we get to go home.”
Postscript: March 15, 2017
Baby Girl, the mixed-breed dachshund who faithfully followed her human companion everywhere – even into the courtroom where he presided as a federal judge – has followed him to their final resting place.
Until the death of Judge James Turk in 2014, Baby Girl was a fixture in his Roanoke courtroom, where he began allowing her to sit in on cases about 10 years ago.
“If I go in the courtroom and leave her out, she hollers, ” Turk said for a story in The Roanoke Times about how the usually solemn proceedings of U.S. District Court were brightened by the little dog who would sniff at the pants legs of attorneys before settling down at her master’s feet.
“She was loved by everybody, ” said the judge’s son, Radford attorney Jimmy Turk.
At the age of about 16 (no one knows for sure because she was adopted by the Turks as a stray), Baby Girl became gravely ill last month, Turk said.
After she was euthanized and cremated, her ashes were placed at the gravesite of Judge Turk – just as he had asked before his death.